Ralph Towner at Rifugio Cauriol, summer 1997

On January 18, the world of music lost Ralph Towner, master of the acoustic guitar and of boundless improvisation. We like to think that his sound will continue to resonate among the mountains of Trentino as well…

It was July 21, 1997, when Towner hiked up with his instrument to Rifugio Cauriol, suspended between rocks, meadows, and the clear sky of the Lagorai range. There were no stages or artificial lights—only the interweaving of trails, the mountain landscape, and the anticipation of those who had walked the paths with backpacks on their shoulders.

From its very first season in the mid-1990s, I Suoni delle Dolomiti was conceived this way: as a meeting between music—becoming a universal language—and the mountains, a space of freedom.

On the meadows of the Lagorai, the whisper of Ralph Towner’s strings still echoes. Not as a nostalgic memory of something that has come to an end, but as a spark that renews itself each year, with every new season of I Suoni.

Like a concert hall on many levels, where past, present and—dare we say—even future intersect, come back to life, and strengthen one another.